Slings and Arrows
by Jbcjazz
Summary: One walls oneself away in order protect themselves from the barbaric legions whose sole purpose is to ruin. Though protected, they become isolated from the rest of society. Shielded away from the wonders of the world, those fortress ramparts slowly turn to prison bars and unscalable walls. Alex Cabot wasn't born an Ice Queen... She was made one. Can anyone break those walls down?


**Slings and Arrows**

 **Jbcjazz**

 _I own nothing of SVU or its characters.  
Possible romance. Leave your opinion on who should break down Alex's walls._

 _ **Chapter One**_

A heated argument had been debated around the watercooler as of late. On one side was the female associates, whose opinion was that I had slept my way to a position within the District Attorney's Office hierarchy. They gossiped that the only way a girl like me could be assigned as an ADA for Special Victims or any unit was to spread my legs for it. That assumption annoyed the dickens out of me and not just for the fact that it was insinuated I was a lazy stupid whore, but it astonished me that the female gender themselves, would perpetuate the stereotype of a young ambitious woman was either a bitch or a slut. It was a spit in the face to the feminist movement that fought for the equal treatment among their male peers. Women had enough trouble proving themselves having to do twice the work and get half the credit without sabotaging ourselves.

On the other side was the Good Ole Boys Club. The male population would point out my family's old money status and all our problems could be solved by greasing a few palms. They explained that my birthright as Cabot Debutante that entitled me and I was the spoiled brat whose mommy and daddy bought my way through law school and later used our connections to get a job with the DA. Of course in their testosterone fueled minds a rich, blonde haired, blue eyed, young woman could not attain a position that placed her on the same level as a man without using some kind of unfair aid to help elevate her. It did not take long for both rumors to conglomerate within the office. I was now the selfish rich princess that used my feminine wiles to charm myself into the bedroom or use my family's money to get what I want. Of course none of that was true.

It also didn't help that the unit's captain, Donald Cragen, had discredited me due to my age. I happened to be years younger than the scores of predecessors that the current District Attorney Arthur Branch tried to assign to the 12th Precinct. The job had become a revolving door that chased away any lawyer unfortunate enough to be chosen for the unit. Either the unruly officers with their colossal trust issues with anyone outside their clique were frozen out, or they simply couldn't stomach the heinous atrocities committed by the criminals they prosecuted. The last attorney happened to be Abbie Carmichael, Jack McCoy's handpicked protégé. But even she didn't last before accepting a job with the U.S Attorney's Office. I had two strikes against me already. My tainted reputation and my young age. But now a third pitch had been thrown in the guise of The Morris Commission, who was investigating SVU due to the number of complaints raised against the unit. That curve ball had ruined all chance in developing any camaraderie with 12th Precinct. I had already struck out before I even got up to the plate.

I had been appointed to SVU by my boss Elizabeth Donnelly with the understanding that I not only do my job and prosecute the cases they caught, which were numerous, but to evaluate the detectives' ability to follow the law to the letter. In other words, I was their babysitter. I had expected some hostility. After all, at my recommendation, the Commission would split the unit up and place the Detectives into other non-Sex Crimes units. My fear was they were going to treat me like that was my intent. It was not. I just wanted to prosecute offenders and do the best I possibly could at my job. I had chosen a career that surrounded me with cutthroats, backstabbers, and even worse… Politicians. You'd think I should have been accustomed to hostility. I had grown up in the court system with a judge for an uncle and a federal prosecutor for a father. I knew I had the knowledge to do my job. I had already proved myself in Law School graduating at the top of my class, and I passed the Bar with a score that surpassed all those already under the employ of the DA, including Arthur Branch himself. Elizabeth would not have appointed me to the unit without having faith in me. I had to believe in myself that I could do the work asked of me. But my job was already made difficult with my rumor created reputation having proceeded me. Like a seasonal flu it spread out to the other DA offices and precincts as well. Everyone formed an opinion of me before they even met me. Assumptions were made and that old adage 'You only get to make one first impression' had already unfairly occurred and I didn't even get to make it myself, others did that for me. It reminded me of my childhood.

-*.-*.-*

 **He laughed as he took off across the playground, his feet pounded the pavement.**

 **"Hey," she called. "Give those back!"**

 **She reached out, swiping at him, but he dodged. She was slower and her world was a brightly colored blur that made it difficult to distinguish one child from another.**

 **"Only if you catch me," the boy teased as he turned and ran.**

 **As she went to follow his moving form, hands reached out and grabbed her, holding her back. She fell as they tugged, and she went down, her hands shoot out in front of her to catch her fall. She cried out in pain after scuffing her palms. The young girl sat up and curled her arms around herself into a protective ball.**

 **"Hey," a voice called out over the din of laughter surrounding her. "Oh, Alexandra."**

 **The other children scattered, and someone handed her back her glasses. In the third grade, she was already almost blind with 20/400 visual acuity uncorrected. Alex pushed her glasses back on her face. She had been wearing them for as long as she could remember, all the way back to the flimsy little plastic ones that were given to toddlers. Her teacher was crouched before her, small frown on her face.**

 **"Who pushed you, kiddo?" she asked.**

 **Alex shrugged.**

 **"No one," she mumbled. "I fell."**

 **"You don't have to protect them, Alex," the teacher said. "If you tell me who keeps doing this -"**

 **"No one, okay? No one!" Alex shouted.**

 **The young girl got up and ran in the direction of the school building. She yanked the door open and rushed into the girl's bathroom. She was a sobbing mess by the time she locked herself in a stall and curled up on the toilet alone.**

-*.-*.-*

I snapped out of my traumatic memory almost hyperventilating. I could taste the metallic tang of blood in my mouth and realized I had bitten my lip hard. With a sigh I nursed the wound with my tongue as I stared at the motion on my desk. The Defense had emailed it to me that morning, and I was just too frustrated with the goings-on around my life to really focus on it and process what it was saying. It was a fairly standard dismissal motion for exactly the reason I had been dropped into the unit I had been assigned to. I packed the motions and reports related to the case into my attaché and checked my watch around my wrist to make sure I had enough time to make my appointment at the 12th precinct. They may have a false perception of me already, but I wasn't going to add tardiness to it as well. I adjusted my black framed glasses, shouldered my attaché case and exited my office.

-*.-*.-*

"Alex Cabot, meet Detectives Olivia Benson, Elliot Stabler, John Munch, and Monique Jefferies," Captain Don Cragen said as he pointed to each detective in turn.

"Detectives, ADA Alex Cabot." He continued with a motion toward me.

"Catch me up," I offered with a tight smile.

I wanted to by-pass all of the formalities of meeting my new coworkers who had already drawn their lines. I was their enemy, and that was fine. Then I would draw mine. I would rather be heartless than wind up heart broken.


End file.
